Ideas
The Terrible Cost of Trump's Disclosures
The consequences of the president’s reported divulgence of top-secret codeword information to the Russians are only beginning.
Ideas
A Defense Budget Increase is No More Needed in 2018 than It Was Last Year
A former assistant defense secretary argues the Trump administration’s bump-up was unnecessary, and in fact counterproductive, to national defense.
Ideas
The Army Wants to Let Troops off the ‘Digital Leash.’ That’s Easier Said Than Done.
Gen. Mark Milley’s injunction against IT-enabled micromanagement will require leaders at all levels to re-think what it means to be part of the profession of arms.
Ideas
How American Special Operators Gradually Returned to Somalia
A U.S. soldier was killed in the country this month for the first time in more than two decades. What was he doing there?
Ideas
Don’t Fear Pakistan’s Participation in China’s ‘New Silk Road’
U.S. interests can be served no matter whether the mega-project’s subcontinental branch succeeds or fails.
Ideas
Congress, the President, and the Dwindling Oversight of War
Lawmakers’ tacit approval of modern military actions encourages more boundary-stretching.
Ideas
Time Warfare: Threats to GPS Aren’t Just About Navigation and Positioning
The U.S. military needs to get serious about assuring access to precision timing.
Ideas
Diplomacy with North Korea Can Work
But success will require the Trump administration to learn some lessons from the last nuclear agreement with Pyongyang.
Ideas
Can Russian Safe Zones Solve Syria?
If a potential negotiated solution to the Syrian conflict exists, something in the spirit of Russia’s plan for decentralization and ceasefires might be it.
Ideas
America’s Allies Are in Decline. Here’s How the US Should Adjust
As global power shifts, Washington needs a new strategy, and a new way of managing its alliances.
Ideas
Yemen Could Be the Key to Solving the Iran Problem
A proposal to transfer control of a Red Sea port could have wide-ranging effects on regional tension.
Ideas
Who Is In Charge of US National Security?
The administration’s flip-flopping on North Korea is only the latest incident to raise this question.
Ideas
The US, Japan, and South Korea Need to Get on the Same Page
As tensions with North Korea heat up, mutual mistrust and diverging priorities make it harder to choose a path forward.
Ideas
Letting Bahrain Buy F-16s Won’t Make It a More Stable Ally
The Trump administration discarded human-rights criteria in approving the sale — and that’s not going to help things.
Ideas
There Is a Peaceful Way Out of the North Korea Crisis
Kim Jong Un’s nuclear and missile programs represent one of the most dangerous challenges since the end of the Cold War. But there are opportunities to stop it.
Ideas
How Trump Could Get China's Help on North Korea
Beijing is not going to pressure Pyongyang just because he tells them to.
Ideas
Normalizing Illegal Action May Be the Only Lasting Effect of Trump’s Syria Strike
A president has broad leeway to send American forces into harm’s way, but Trump has blown past the few constraints that remain.
Ideas
Scuttle the Iran Nuke Deal? That Approach Didn’t Stop North Korea
The Trump administration should learn from George W. Bush’s 2002 decision to tear up an intact, if imperfect, nuclear agreement.
Ideas